The Daily Growth Discipleship Podcast

What defines your identity? You answer this question all the time whether you know it or not. It can come from your parents, your spouse, your children, your career, or just about anything in your life. God created you to be his child, and everything else should flow from that. But it's difficult to allow that reality to define our identity. Chris' story is his journey from finding identity in what others expected of him to finding his identity in Christ alone.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

There's a struggle at the core of your being: Are you going to rule your own life? It may sound like a good idea, but in reality human beings are terrible at ruling their own lives. God didn't create you to fill that role. Perfectionism is an attempt to reclaim the rule of your own life, believing you can do it better than God. Josh's story is a story of this exact struggle. But through that struggle, he's learning it's best if he doesn't rule his own life and to leave that position to the one it was created for, God himself.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

A good story involves risk. It involves the heroes and villains battling it out until one emerges victorious. In the grand story of God's work throughout history to redeem his people, what role do you play? Are you the hero fighting to save the day? Are you the villain standing in the way of the hero? Or are you some side character who can do nothing but watch the story unfold?

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

What is it that would so compel the apostle Paul to continue on to Jerusalem, when everyone around him urged and pleaded with him to stay away? Why would he be willing to say, “I’m ready to be imprisoned and die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus?” And why do we secretly think to ourselves, "I hope God never calls me to do that?" Following God into dangerous places isn't something only the most noble saints in Church history do. The very thing that motivates them to follow God into dangerous places can motivate us to follow him in that way. All it takes is a desire to know God and the willingness to cultivate that relationship every day.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

Ask almost anyone, "How's it going?" and you'll get one of two answers. Either they'll say, "I'm good!" or they'll probably (and more honestly) say, "I'm tired!" Why is it that we're always so tired? Isn't the Christian life, the yoke of Jesus, supposed to be light and easy? The answer to these problems is rest. In this chapter, Chase talks about the value of rest as a spiritual discipline and its effect on his busy life.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

We often look for mountain top experiences where we can erect a monument and declare, "I grew more today than I ever have before!" This rarely happens in the Christian life. In fact, we most often grow in small, imperceptible ways, and we do so in seasons. And when it comes to spiritual disciplines like writing, journaling, prayer, or Bible reading, little decisions that move us in the right direction over time often produce the most growth. They're what Eugene Peterson called a long obedience in the same direction. In this chapter, Chase tells about his experience cultivating his practice of writing in seasons as a way to become better at his craft.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

If you wrote down a list of spiritual disciplines, writing probably doesn't make the list. But this practice is beneficial for spiritual growth because it allows you to reflect on your thoughts, experiences, and interactions with other people. It's really just another word for journaling. In this chapter, Chase talks about the impact the discipline of writing has had on his own life and spiritual growth as he wrote the Samson story.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

"The grass is always greener on the other side." The cliche is definitely overused. At the same time, it's proven true over and over again in the Christian life. You think, "If I could only get the better job, then I could really serve Jesus." What if it were possible to find meaning and fulfillment right now, right where you are? In this chapter, Chase tells a bit of his own story and a few of the lessons he learned from studying Samson's desires to find fulfillment in the greener grass in Philistia.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

The book of Ecclesiastes opens with David's son, Solomon, declaring, "Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." You've probably felt like saying the same thing about your own life on occasion. Don't worry. We all have. But Christians have a unique advantage in the search for meaning. We know it's not found in us. It's easy to say we need to find meaning in Jesus, but what does that mean practically for how we live our lives today?

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.

Follow hard after God! In this final chapter of our conversation with Gretchen, she sums up the Christian life in this one statement. No matter what life throws at you, no matter how deep the darkness gets or how imperfect you feel you are, follow hard after God! Keep pursuing him and all that he has for you. And when you do, you'll find you're on a thrilling journey that's more fulfilling and exciting than you could have ever imagined.

Check out the full show notes and resources for this episode at dailygrowthdiscipleship.com.